74 



VOLTAIRE. 



the constant disputes, the hot water he lived in, that 

 he was always writing, generally writing something 

 offensive of somebody; and almost as generally wri- 

 ting something which was likely to call down the 

 indignation of the constituted authorities in Church 

 and State. But had he kept his writings to him- 

 self, or only published them anonymously without 

 any confidants, his pen would have less frequently 

 disturbed his repose. Instead of this, he generally 

 began by showing his compositions, often by suffering 

 copies to be taken ; sometimes these were published 

 without his leave ; but often he allowed them to be 

 printed, and straightway complained when the author- 

 ship was discovered. His denials then knew no 

 bounds, either for repetition or for solemnity ; and we 

 have seen in the instance of the ' Letters on England* 

 how little scrupulous he was in what manner he 

 confirmed his asseverations, by laying the blame upon 

 others. To this double source of the difficulties into 

 which his writings brought him with the govern- 

 ment, and of the individual resentment which they 

 occasioned, may very many of his quarrels and anxieties 

 be traced. 



But another circumstance must be mentioned, as 

 throwing light upon his personal altercations with 

 the friends he at various times esteemed. His nature 

 was open and ardent ; he had the irritability which 

 oftentimes accompanies genius, but he had the warm 

 temperament, the generous self-abandonment, the 

 uncalculating effusion of sentiment, which is also its 



into the first of modern poets, as our Locke did Blackmore ; yet few 

 passages in Voltaire's own writings can compare with the famous 

 simile of the Egyptians, and their sacrilegious abuse of the Sun. 



